Sources Sought
Forest Service Hand Thinning, MATOC North Rockies/Great Basin
Department of Agriculture · Forest Service
More open Forest Service contracts
AI summaryThis is a sources sought notice from the U.S. Forest Service (Agriculture, CSA Intermountain 3), not a solicitation: the agency is checking which businesses could do hand thinning and fuels reduction on national forests and grasslands in the Northern Rockies and Great Basin. It is planning a multiple-award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract: several firms share a contract and compete for task orders. The period of performance is five years, award through 2031. The response due date is November 19, 2026, 12:00 PM Central (1:00 PM Eastern), by email with a capability statement. More in the summary
Market research, not a bid. Replying is free and tells Forest Service who could do this work. Send a short reply to the contracting contact; no price is needed. See the contact
A newer version of this notice was posted Oct 19, 2026. It moves the due date from Nov 2, 2026 to Nov 19, 2026, which is the date shown on this page. See the latest version.
AI summary Beta
Summary of another version of this notice: check what changed on SAM.gov.
This is a sources sought notice from the U.S. Forest Service (Agriculture, CSA Intermountain 3), not a solicitation: the agency is checking which businesses could do hand thinning and fuels reduction on national forests and grasslands in the Northern Rockies and Great Basin. It is planning a multiple-award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract: several firms share a contract and compete for task orders. The period of performance is five years, award through 2031. The response due date is November 19, 2026, 12:00 PM Central (1:00 PM Eastern), by email with a capability statement.
Who can bid
- A SAM registration with a UEI and a SAM expiration date to list in the capability statement
How to submit: Email a capability statement to Contracting Officer Crystal Amos at crystal.amos@usda.gov. What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch
From the version posted Oct 19, 2026.
- Worth checking: Market survey only, not a solicitation. Responding does not make you a bidder or secure an award; the Forest Service may or may not issue a solicitation later.
- Worth checking: Seven-state area and a short field season. Work would span lands in seven states, and the capability statement must show capacity to handle many tasks over a wide area in a short season.
Read from the notice and 1 attachment. Show which files.
- Thinning_Synopsis_V2.pdf (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Hand thinning, slashing, girdling and pruning of non-merchantable (not saleable as timber) vegetation
- Fuels reduction work: slash treatment, hand piling, chipping, fuel break and fireline construction, duff mound removal
- Prescribed burn unit preparation, stand improvement, weed and release, release of browse species, and unit rehabilitation
- Residual tree protection and unit boundary or special protection area designation, with traversing for or within units where included
- Work on National Forest and National Grassland lands in all or parts of CA, ID, MT, ND, NV, UT and WY, and possibly adjacent lands where cross-boundary work is permitted
- Contract type
- Multiple-award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract is contemplated
- Period of performance
- Five-year period of performance, award through 2031
- Place of performance
- Missoula, MT, USA per SAM.gov. Work would be on National Forests and National Grasslands in the Forest Service's Northern Rockies (Region One) and Great Basin (Region Four), in all or portions of CA, ID, MT, ND, NV, UT and WY.
- Estimated value
- More than $10,000,000, given as the notice's disclosure of magnitude (expected size)
- Offers due
- November 19, 2026, 12:00 PM Central
- How to submit
- Email a capability statement to Contracting Officer Crystal Amos at crystal.amos@usda.gov
What to include when you submit
- Capability statement must give the company name, Unique Entity Identification (UEI) number, point of contact, address, email and phone number
- State your business size category: Small Business, 8(a), Veteran-Owned, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, HUBZone, Small Disadvantaged or Women-Owned Small Business
- Give your System for Award Management (SAM) expiration date
- Describe your ability and capacity to perform multiple tasks over a broad geographic area in a short field season
- Send questions by email by the question deadline of November 2, 2026, 12:00 PM Central Daylight Time
Not in the notice text
- Whether a solicitation will be issued, when, and whether it will be set aside for a type of small business
- How awards would be evaluated and how many firms would get a contract
- Minimum and maximum contract amounts and typical task order sizes
- Which wage rules and any bonding or insurance requirements would apply
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside. Any business can reply: this is market research, and no bid is being taken yet.
- To respond, send a short reply to the contracting contact near the top of this page. No price is needed.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 19, 2026
- Notice type
- Sources Sought
- Office
- USDA-FS, CSA Intermountain 3, Ogden, UT
- Product/service code
- F114 · Environmental Systems Protection – Environmental Licensing and Permitting
- Business type
- Environmental & natural resources (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 115310)
- Versions
2 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 19, 2026 · Amendment 0001Due Nov 19, 2026 (changed)
- Oct 19, 2026 · Sources Sought (this version)Due Nov 2, 2026
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
Terms on this notice: Sources sought notice
Full notice text from SAM.gov
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